Just charming

My Mother told me she wanted to give me her charm bracelet. THE charm bracelet that I’ve loved forever. As a little girl, I sat in church and played with it on her arm, careful not to make it jingle during the prayers. It’s also her favorite piece of jewelry, so of course my first thought was . . .

are you feeling okay?

Yes, she was fine, but wanted me to enjoy it now instead of later.

My next twisted thought? Okay, what did they just give my brother? Haha! Who cares? I got the charm bracelet!

Charms collected mainly from Mom’s college years at Howard College, now Samford University where my son is now a student, engagement and wedding charms as well as high school class rings from both of my parents.

Charm bracelets were popular everywhere in the 1950’s, but like a good monogram, Southern girls have firmly held on to the tradition since, and even in this modern age, we love to collect and display our memories on our dainty little wrists.

The bracelet above is my silver charm bracelet, with lots of charms, but not nearly as spectacular as my Mom’s gold beauty. It has charms for each state where I’ve lived, vacation sites, a violin for my son’s first instrument, and a first place ribbon for when I won the cookie competition at the Baldwin County Fair.

This is a gold bracelet I started a few years ago that includes baby shoes for both of my children and a train because my son used to love to play on the toy train in Marietta Square before we moved to Fairhope.

I’m thinking of being a wild woman and combining both my silver and gold charms together on one bracelet. I know people will talk, but it’s a risk I’m willing to take.

This was my first little girl charm bracelet I wore in elementary school. I want to move the majorette over to my “big girl” silver bracelet. Always loved her sassy, confident attitude. There used to be a piano on there, but the leg kept getting snagged in my ribbons and lace when I’d flip upside down on the monkey bars, so now it’s tucked away in a shadow box.

And this interesting bracelet belonged to my Mother’s Mother, who bought it when she lived in Mexico for a year. It desperately needs to be polished, and it appears a few of the items may be missing. All the charms are supposed to be related to tools used to make tortillas. Special tongs, bowls, boards . . . and then, there’s a pistol. Must have been a rough crowd to feed.

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So now I have three generations of very different charm bracelets. I’m all set to jingle for a long time to come. – Thanks Mom. You’re charming!